Races

Tuesday, March 24, 2020

Life 3.14.2020- 3.22.2020

Life

The last day I worked in the office was Friday the 13th. Appropriate. I took my laptop, keyboard and mouse home- I’m so glad I took those because laptop keyboards are awful.

After 1 week of WFH, I feel ok about it. I had originally anticipated getting a lot done due to less distractions- but due to the changing landscape we are in, I had to make many new reports and analytics which took the bulk of my time. I am hoping things settle into a new “normal” soon.

On March 15, restaurants and bars had to close to dine in patrons. Luckily they are able to sell carry out. Breweries can sell beer to go and some deliver.

On March 20, the shelter in place mandate went into effect. We can still get carry out, go grocery shopping but all non essential services are closed like salons. I feel terrible for people and small businesses right now.

Zé Pequeno didn’t even interact with me last week while at work.

Food

We had a good mix of cooking at home + supplementing with carry out. We have felt it is important to support our local businesses - they are the cultural fabric that make our neighborhoods great.

I made 2 small red fife loaves- one had roasted potatoes, cheese and rosemary in it. That was a huge hit. For lunch I would eat roasted sweet potatoes with various proteins- sweet earth teriyaki burger or ikea veggie balls.

On Friday L went to 18th street and brought me back their chicken sando.

To celebrate our anniversary, we walked to Acadia to get carry out- a wedge salad and burgers. Sunday we got food from antique taco.

Sunday we made pizza in the snow. I made sourdough from scratch which came out great- didn’t rise much as this was the first time using no yeast and only using a starter. (It was perfect!) We used spicy tomato sauce, pepperoni, mushroom and black olives.

Workouts

I decided I wanted to hit 100 miles a week on Zwift. I cycled every day- and with the exception of Monday where I cycled 7 miles, I averaged over 20 miles a day.

Nailed it!

Since that was too easy, I’ll shoot for 150 miles this week.

I haven’t felt compelled to run outside yet. It’s been cold and and I’ve been enjoying cycling a lot.

Shamrock shuffle got cancelled- we were supposed to run on the 3/22. I didn’t feel in shape anyways so I wasn’t too sad to miss it. I was bummed we couldn’t hang out with our run club though.

Thoughts

I don’t think many people took this threat seriously for a while. There was/is conflicting news about what to do/plus the severity of it is/ was downplayed. holding or not holding your breath for 10 seconds has nothing to do if you have Covid or not. (That was actually discussed on a major TV network who routinely spreads false information) I still don’t think people are taking it seriously enough as evidenced by spring breakers in the south.

While people were out thinking Covid wasn’t a huge threat “because I’m young and it won’t affect me!” (Spoiler alert: flattening the curve is for the benefit of everyone, not just yourself!) Politicians were busy dumping millions in stocks to avoid the anticipated loss because they were briefed on the severity of the situation and waited weeks to notify the public. Celebrities and athletes are able to get tested at the drop of a hat while “regular” citizens are unable to get tested without many hoops to jump through. When asked about this, the “POTUS” said that’s just life.

Remember that.

Also remember that our Covid cases/deaths related are relatively low because we do not have adequate testing. But what about those “beautiful tests?”

Ok that got dark- but it’s necessary to remember how “elected officials” are not acting in the best interest of the people.

Here’s Ze demanding to speak to the manager about his food. I had given him roasted butternut squash on his food for a few days, and when I didn’t put it on his food he would stand at his bowl and bark.

Life in the time of Covid 19 is making us evolve. With social distancing and being no longer able to meet in groups, we are getting creative so we don’t lose our minds. Sunday night our run club had a virtual happy hour. It was nice to see some familiar faces and chat for a few hours.

At 8pm each night folks in our neighborhood stand on their balconies and sing/ flash lights. Tonight’s song selection is “let it be.”

I’m hopeful that when we look back it’s that we “over reacted” because that means we did exactly what we needed to do to flatten the curve and not overwhelm our resources- like what happened in Italy.

5 comments:

I'm with you on supporting local businesses right now. We got delivery once last week and I grabbed carry-out a couple times too. Once was from a bar/restaurant that just opened in December - I feel so bad for them that this is happening just as they were getting off the ground!

Ugh, yes, the "leaders" of our country sure are doing a piss poor job of keeping us all safe. But THANK GOODNESS their stock portfolios will survive (meanwhile I'm not even bothering to look at my 401(k) - I just don't want to know). That said, I feel very fortunate that we both live in states that ARE taking this seriously and putting the right precautions in place. I've already seen some data comparing Ohio and Louisiana's efforts, since both states reported their first case on the same day. Ohio was extremely aggressive while Louisiana wasn't, and the numbers suggest that it's been effective.

WFH is 10 hour days so far this week and still not getting what I need to get done. Ugh

Our 401ks will survive. Just think of all the mutual funds and stocks being bought at much lower rates now, which will off set the ones that have tanked. (Until the next big crash) that is so interesting to compare the 2 states like that. I’ll have to look at that more to see how they are doing now. Friends from MRC Moscow have asked me what life is really like here because god only knows what’s on the news there. They are still able to congregate in groups of less than 50. I wonder how countries like India are handling it- densely populated and such. But hey! Let’s reopen by Easter because it’s beautiful. Smh

Girl, YES, I hope everyone remembers all of this come November at the ballot box. And to Anne's point, it's definitely interesting to compare how aggressive some states have been right out of the gate versus waiting for catastrophe to happen and then reacting.

Santa Clara County has been hit pretty hard, as you probably already know. So many people here are fearful that we'll wake up one morning to learn that we're no longer allowed to go outside, that the SIP mandate suddenly got a whole lot more strict. The problem is people are being dummies and flocking to the beach, trails, etc. because they can still and fail to allow adequate social distancing. SIP doesn't really work if you go to the beach or the Embarcadero or whatever with 40 of your closest friends!! Plus a mom friend here got mad at me because I wouldn't let my kids have a playdate with hers. That's not how this works, guys. It's not hard...

Uggggh I know way too many people doing just what you described. Oh the gym is closed? Let's all meet at a park and work out on top of each other! And then let's post pictures for everyone else to freak out about!

I hope people remember. But I know we live in a bubble. when did doing the right thing become a red or blue thing? (I know the answer) I cannot believe that people still fawn over the people in the White House who are basically trying to screw everyone over but themselves. I digress.

Oh man that’s tough. I hope things improve where you are too but definitely sounds like it will get much worse first. The thing is- no one presented this as a serious issue until a week or 2 ago. People still have that mindset as they get their news from questionable sources. (And because they see that there hasn’t been many cases thanks to our government rejecting the WHO tests) L sees loads of families out on the lakefront each day when he runs. It’s just selfish of people to carryon the way they have. Hugs to you and your fam.

Introduction

Greetings! I'm Xaarlin, and live in Chicago with my husband and border collie dog, CB. I am an accountant by day and enjoy running, discovering new craft beers, learning Portuguese, eating/cooking delicious foods and spending time with my family when off the clock. I use this space to talk about life, running, and anything else that interests me. Mikkeller Run Club Chicago Captain. Untappd:Xaarlin